News

The Katherine A. Kendall Institute for International Social Work Education is pleased to invite applications for international social work grants to CSWE members. Up to three grants, at a maximum of $10,000, will be awarded for the CSWE’s 2017–2018 fiscal year. KAKI hopes to fund projects that help prepare North American students for global citizenship and encourage opportunities for international social work.

The Katherine A. Kendall Institute for International Social Work Education (KAKI) is seeking applications for new members to join its Advisory Board in CSWE’s 2017–2018 fiscal year. The Advisory Board oversees the funds and initiatives of KAKI. The Board hopes to find three new members who believe in KAKI’s mission and are willing to be active in their governance roles. The Board is comprised of experts from the international social work community. Applications are due by April 1, 2017. Please see the attached call for more information and instructions.

International Consortium for Social Development 2017 Symposium

ACSWE Conference Scheduled

During the 2016 CSWE Annual Program Meeting (APM), the Katherine A. Kendall Institute hosted a session titled Realizing the Vision of Katherine A. Kendall through International Education Collaborations. Presenters Lynne Healy, Terry Hokenstad, and Jody Olsen provided examples of how the Institute has developed partnerships, collaborations, and grants to foster the growth and influence of international social work concepts and models. Additionally, the KAKI Institute presented Promoting and Teaching the United Nations 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals in partnership with IASSW.

The Human Rights Interest Group of the Commission on Global Social Work Education invites you to join us in conversation with Emiko Soltis, PhD, executive director of Atlanta-based Freedom University on Friday November 4, 5:00 pm–6:30 pm, Atlanta Marriott Marquis, Room L504. She and her students will discuss the challenges faced by Georgia's undocumented young people as they try to pursue higher education. Freedom University was founded to allow educational opportunities for students because Georgia law bans undocumented youths from attending Georgia's top five public universities and prohibits undocumented students from qualifying for in-state tuition.

The University of Prishtina, located in Kosovo, established its first BSW program in 2012. The social work program recently launched a project to collect social work books to build their library. The program is reaching out to the international community to request book donations. Their goal is to open the library next year on World Social Work Day (March 21, 2017).

Students from Indiana University School of Social Work had the opportunity to meet the United States Ambassador to Croatia, Julieta Valls Noyes, during their summer 2016 international service learning course, Social Work Practice in Postwar Communities. During the visit the students had the opportunity to tour the U.S. Embassy and meet with key officials. The students used this meeting to ask government officials about their perspectives on the role of the international community in postwar community reconstruction, which was the focus of their summer studies. The embassy staff also took the opportunity to inform the students about working in the foreign service and encouraged them to consider it as a career.

CSWE Council on Global Social Issues member S. Megan Berthold and Mary Buser, both members of Social Workers Against Solitary Confinement (SWASC), have written an informational brief discussing the use of solitary confinement in the U.S. criminal justice system, how solitary confinement violates the human rights of those who are victims of this form of punishment, and how social workers are organizing to combat this practice.

The CSWE Global Commission Hokenstad Lecture Committee has selected Darja Zaviršek of the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia to be the 2016 Hokenstad Lecturer. Her presentation, "The Humanitarian Crisis of Migration: Current Dimensions and Challenges for Social Work Practice," will be given at the CSWE Annual Program Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday, November 5, 2016.

The CSWE Commission on Global Social Work Education is now accepting nominations for the 2016 Hokenstad Lecture. The lecture will be given during the CSWE Annual Program Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday, November 5, from 9:15 am–10:15 am. The 2016 Hokenstad lecturer will be provided international airfare (economy class), 2 nights of hotel accommodation, a conference registration, and an honorarium of $1,000 (US).

The Katherine A. Kendall Institute for International Social Work Education is pleased to announce the recipients of its first Katherine A. Kendall grant. The Institute received a tremendous response to its call for proposals and was impressed by the large number of high-quality proposals. The top three grantees were selected based on their innovative projects that address a variety of important issues in international social work education.

​CSWE’s Council on Global Learning and Practice (CGLP) is committed to providing faculty development opportunities for those seeking to expand their knowledge and capacity regarding global and international issues. Expected outcomes include developing courses and establishing a basis for conducting faculty/student service, learning, or research projects consistent with the mission and practices of CSWE. Sponsored trips can be organized by CSWE members with knowledge about the country in question and with prior approval from CGLP. They are then offered to CSWE members whose interests best match the purposes of the trip.

As part of a 5-year initiative launched by the Council of Social Work Education (CSWE) in the United States and the China Association of Social Work Education (CASWE), the Arizona State University’s (ASU) School of Social Work (SSW), among the seven social work schools nationally selected, has entered the 3rd year of its collaboration with social work schools in central China.

The Katherine A. Kendall Institute for International Social Work Education (KAKI) is pleased to announce that it will offer up to three international social work grant opportunities to CSWE members at a maximum of $10,000 for the CSWE fiscal year 2015–2016.

Students from the social work department at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa have organized to show their solidarity with the family and friends of the victims of the Al-Shabaab attack on April 2 at Garissa University College in Kenya.

The Committee on Environmental Justice was officially launched in February 2015 and is jointly sponsored by the CSWE Commission for Diversity and Social and Economic Justice and the CSWE Commission on Global Social Work Education.

Our thoughts are with the survivors of the devastating 7.8 earthquake that struck central Nepal at 11:58 am on April 25, 2015. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 8.1 million people will need humanitarian assistance, and more than 3 million will need food aid.

The CSWE Commission on Global Social Work Education’s Council on External Relations would like to highlight the importance of the growing global food insecurity issue. It has been estimated that between 2011 and 2013 about 842 million people (about one in eight people in the world) suffered from chronic hunger, a key measure of food insecurity (Food and Agriculture Organization, International Fund for Agricultural Development, & World Food Programme [FAO], 2013).

The CSWE Commission on Global Social Work Education would like to take the opportunity to highlight the importance of the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development, which was launched in 2010 and developed collaboratively among the International Association of Schools of Social Work, the International Federation of Social Workers, and the International Council on Social Welfare at the Joint World Conference in Hong Kong.

The 2014 Joint World Conference on Social Work, Education, and Social Development was held in Melbourne, Australia July 9–12, 2014. The theme of the conference was Promoting Social and Economic Equality, which is the first commitment of the Global Agenda, developed by the International Association of Schools of Social Work, the International Council on Social Welfare, and the International Federation of Social Workers.

In celebration of Social Work Month, Women’s History Month, and World Social Work Day (March 18, 2014), CSWE has published a paper celebrating the life and work of the late Katherine A. Kendall (former CSWE executive director) and two of her colleagues and former CSWE presidents, Herman Stein and M. C. “Terry” Hokenstad, for their many contributions to social work education domestically and internationally.

Join the CSWE Council on Global Learning, Research, and Practice in Costa Rica June 6–14, 2015, for a faculty development study abroad seminar focusing on sustainable human development and human rights, emphasizing women's and children's rights, from a social work perspective.

Marazul Charters, with the Council on Social Work Education's Katherine A. Kendall Institute as its program consultant, is pleased to advise you of an exciting research and faculty development opportunity scheduled tentatively for June 14–22, 2014.

The Katherine A. Kendall Institute now lists international social work study abroad and field placement opportunities on its calendar. If you have an opportunity that you would like to announce, please send the details to kaki@cswe.org.

The Global Agenda is a call to action advocating for the universal implementation of human rights and social justice by the International Association of Schools of Social Work, the International Council on Social Welfare, and the International Federation of Social Workers.

The 2012–2013 Council on Global Learning, Research, and Practice has developed a set of online learning modules, incorporating competencies from the 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards, to infuse global information into social work curricula.

For a second consecutive year, a week long research tour to Havana, Cuba, was organized by Marazul Charters in collaboration with the CSWE Global Commission, Council on Global Learning Research and Practice, and the Katherine A. Kendall Institute.

Vijayan K. Pillai (University of Texas-Arlington) and Rashmi Gupta (San Francisco State University) of the CSWE Global Commission (2009–2012) recently completed a concept paper addressing sustainability in social work titled The Greening of Social Work.

March is an important month in the social work calendar. Since the 1960s March has been observed as Social Work Month and has become a time to recognize the importance of social work and raise awareness about the profession.

The USAID Donald M. Payne International Development Fellowship Program seeks undergraduate students who are applying to graduate school and interested in pursuing a career in the foreign service at USAID.

Hours before the opening ceremony of the 2012 Joint World Conference for Social Work and Social Development in Stockholm, Sweden, the Katherine A. Kendall Institute convened a human rights workshop featuring a distinguished panel of experts including Kendall advisory board members Lynne Healy (University of Connecticut) and M. C. "Terry" Hokenstad (Case Western Reserve University), along with special invited guests C. K. Law (University of Hong Kong) and Sergei Zelenev (International Council on Social Welfare).

The fourth edition of Social Dialogue, a magazine published by the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), is now available for download. The featured article examines HIV/AIDS in southern Africa.

The North American and Caribbean Association of Schools of Social Work (NACASSW) is a regional body of the International Association of Schools of Social Work. NACASSW encourages cross-country collaborations and sharing of educational methods and materials and promotes faculty development at the regional level.

In June 2012, Marazul Charters in collaboration with the CSWE Council on Global Learning, Research, and Practice and the Katherine A. Kendall Institute as program consultants organized a social work research and study tour in Havana, Cuba.

The Katherine A. Kendall Institute for International Social Work Education is pleased to announce the American members of the China Collaborative that will partner with schools of social work in China.

On Monday, March 26, 2012, Helen Clark, administrator of the United Nations Development Program, was presented with the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development by the presidents of the International Association of Schools of Social Work, the International Federation of Social Workers, and the International Council on Social Welfare.

Social work in China, represented by approximately 270 undergraduate social work programs and 72 graduate programs, has gained prominence in recent years following the government's endorsement in 2006.

The Council on Global Learning, Research, and Practice (CGLRP), one of the councils under the CSWE Commission on Global Social Work Education, has been charged by CSWE with helping social work programs incorporate global content into their curricula.

The Council on Social Work Education and the Katherine A. Kendall Institute were sponsors of the Fourth Conference on International Social Work, which was hosted by the University of Southern California School of Social Work, March 25–27, 2011.